Property owners given options for allowing crews access

Boulder County may take legal steps to remove debris such as this in the creek near Middle Fork Road from private properties to prevent further flooding, even if the owners object. (File photo)

Boulder County is prepared to take legal steps to have crews enter private properties over the owners' objections, if that's what it takes to remove flood-deposited debris from streams to prevent additional flooding.

If the county gets property-by-property court authorizations to go onto the land and clear out the streams, it could later bill the owners the costs of the work.

The county has sent, or is in the process of sending, letters to hundreds of owners of private properties alongside about 200 specific stream channel locations in unincorporated Boulder County, areas where authorities have identified the debris from September's floods as posing high and imminent hazards to public safety.

Those letters amount to official notice that the county has determined that the material that's either in or threatening to fall into a stream crossing each owner's property presents a hazard to the public and must be removed.

Property owners are being told that under Boulder County's Land Use Code they have 10 days from the date the county mailed its official letter to notify the county that they'll abate the hazard by removing the debris themselves or arranging for its removal — at their own expense.

Or, the property owner can fill out a form giving the county and its contractors the right to access to the private property in order to remove the debris. The deadline for signing up to participate in that "high hazard abatement" program is also 10 days from the mailing of the letter.

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Under that option, the county would be responsible for all the costs associated with the project, although county officials hope to have 75 percent of those costs covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 12.5 percent by the state.

Property owners who don't believe that the debris should be removed or who don't think it poses as much of a hazard as authorities contend have a right to appeal the county's high-hazard determination.

That could result in a hearing by the Board of County Commissioners. People have 10 days after the county mailed its letter to file notice that they're appealing.

When commissioners disagree with a property owner's appeal, they can then direct their staff to seek a court warrant authorizing the county to enter the private property and remove the hazardous debris from the stream.

Federal and state funding wouldn't necessarily cover most of the county's expenses in those court-authorized projects, and the county could bill the costs back to the property owners.

Land Use director Dale Case said many of the 200 high-hazard locations identified by the county involve streams going through multiple private properties.

He said last week's letters were sent to owners of 368 properties and that another 117 were expected to go into the mail on Tuesday.

Commissioners Cindy Domenico and Deb Gardner on Tuesday informally affirmed the process the county staff is using to get the streams cleared of the hazardous deposits.

Commissioner Elise Jones wasn't present for Tuesday's meeting, which included a public hearing at which Lucas Hanley of 8768 Fourmile Canyon Drive objected to some of the legal language on the county's right-of-entry forms.

Hanley expressed concerns that the agreement would open the door to the private owner being sued by the county, its contractor or insurance provider if a worker is injured during the debris removal.

He also objected that the agreement would allow the county or its contractor to come back in future years, "until the end of time," until the county determines that the flood threat has been eliminated.

The commissioners said they had to use the legal format and conditions approved by the state and the FEMA in order to help assure that state and federal funding would cover up to 87.5 percent of the cost of each project.

"We are between a rock and a hard place," said Domenico, adding that "it's a new experience, working with FEMA."

Another Fourmile Canyon Drive resident told commissioners that she hadn't gotten the letter, even though "all my neighbors got one."

That woman told commissioners that "we really want to help" with preventing spring and summer flooding, "but we don't want someone doing something to our property that we don't know what it is."

The commissioners stressed the importance of getting as much of the stream removal work done by May 1 as possible.

Domenico said the debris damming up one stream location, or that winds up flowing downstream during snowmelt or storm flows can affect multiple properties, so "we need everybody participating" in the cleanup of the designated high-hazard sites.

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